(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an apparatus employed as an access port in minimally invasive surgery that enables the insertion of instruments or the hand through a small incision in body tissue while maintaining the insufflation pressure within a body cavity.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Minimally, invasive surgery, such as laparoscopy, despite its beneficial aspects, has some disadvantages. Surgery of this type involving the use of surgical instruments manipulated through trocars or cannula inserted through body tissue to a surgery site within a body cavity requires a great deal of manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination of the surgeon. Many years of practice are required before the surgeon develops a comfortable level of agility in manipulating surgical instruments inserted through trocars to the surgical site while observing the movements of the instruments through a laparoscope. Until this level of familiarity with surgery techniques is developed by the surgeon, minimally invasive surgery requires significantly more of the surgeon's time than would the same operation being performed in an open incision of the body.
Additionally, the need to maintain a pneumoperitoneum or insufflation pressure within the body cavity at the surgery site while instruments are removed from and inserted through trocars during surgery increases the time required for performing an operation by minimally invasive surgery over that required for performing the same operation through an open incision in the body.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a surgical apparatus and its method of use that assist the surgeon in performing minimally invasive surgery by providing an access port through body tissue to a body cavity at the surgery site which enables insertion of surgical instruments or the surgeon's hand through the access port while maintaining the insufflation pressure or pneumoperitoneum within the body cavity.